At a glance

Oct. 19 -- Boys: Division I, district 3 meet at Watkins Memorial. The top six teams and top 24 individuals advance to regional Oct. 26 at Pickerington North; Girls: Division I, district 2 meet at Watkins Memorial. The top five teams and top 20 individuals advance to regional.

Oct. 17 -- At 11th-seeded Orange or home vs. 37th-seeded Briggs in second round of Division I district tournament. Winner plays eighth-seeded Grove City or 22nd-seeded Westerville North in district semifinal Oct. 22. The Monarchs are seeded 12th and have a first-round bye.

GIRLS VOLLEYBALL

Oct. 14 -- Home vs. 22nd-seeded Darby in first round of Division I district tournament. Winner plays at 14th-seeded Westerville North in second round Oct. 16. Winner plays 11th-seeded Olentangy Liberty, 17th-seeded Pickerington North or 30th-seeded Independence in district semifinal Oct. 23 at Whitehall. Marysville is seeded 19th.

First-year Marysville High School boys soccer coach Terry Smith has fond memories of his coaching career at Hilliard Davidson, including when the Wildcats won the Division I state title in 2007.

Smith hopes to build similar memories at Marysville, and the Monarchs gave him one Oct. 8 when they tied host Davidson at 1.

"Getting off the bus and coming in here, it's just one of those times when you're doing everything backwards because I never came here (with the visiting team)," Smith said of playing at Davidson. "Being able to see the (state title) banner out front, just reminiscing with a lot of stuff, it's 12 years I spent here. I put a lot of good stuff in here and I put the program together. I'm excited about the opportunity of (doing) what I did here for (Marysville). It starts from the bottom."

The Monarchs tied the game with 42 seconds remaining when forward Ryan Husband scored off an assist from midfielder Connor Richardson. Goalkeeper Corey Mankins had seven saves.

"We just wanted to give coach a good game because we knew he wanted to beat these guys because he just came from here," Husband said.

The Monarchs were 7-7-1 overall before closing the regular season Oct. 12 against Jonathan Alder.

Marysville is seeded 23rd in the district tournament and plays at 21st-seeded Olentangy in a first-round game Wednesday, Oct. 16. The winner plays at 11th-seeded Olentangy Orange in the second round Saturday, Oct. 19.

In addition to the state title, Smith led Davidson to district titles in 2006, 2007 and 2009 and OCC championships in 2006 and 2007.

"This was a challenge, it was emotional," Smith said of returning to Davidson. "I've never been over here on this side of the field, so it was different seeing all the kids. ... The parents, the athletic director, the principal, it was senior night. The seniors here are kids that I coached, so that was emotional."

Girls soccer team has first-round bye

The girls soccer team has a first-round bye in the Division I district tournament and plays 11th-seeded Orange or 37th-seeded Briggs in the second round Thursday, Oct. 17, at a site to be determined.

The winner plays eighth-seeded Grove City or 22nd-seeded Westerville North in a district semifinal Oct. 22.

The Monarchs, who are the 12th seed, were 9-6-1 overall after defeating Olentangy 5-1 on Oct. 10.

They finished 3-3-1 in the OCC-Central after losing to visiting Davidson 4-2 on Oct. 8. Forwards Abby Jaggers and Tiffany Spears scored for the Monarchs.

"We are playing well at times, but need to be more consistent when the tournament starts," coach Jim Daugherty said. "We have had a few injuries that have not helped us stay consistent, but hopefully we will be fully healthy or at least very close to it by the start of the tournament."

Football team to visit UA

The football team continues its pursuit of a Division I, Region 1 playoff berth when it plays at Upper Arlington on Friday, Oct. 18.

The Monarchs were 5-1 overall and 2-1 in the OCC-Central before playing Thomas Worthington on Oct. 11.

Marysville was sixth in the Region 1 computer rankings. The top 16 teams qualify for the playoffs.

UA was 3-3 overall and 2-1 in the OCC-Central before playing Davidson on Oct. 11.

"(The Golden Bears) have played solid teams, so we have to be ready for that (game)," coach Morgan Cotter said. "Up front, (UA) is always good. They have kids who are going to end up at big schools in college. They have the horses, so we just have to be ready to play."

The Monarchs rallied to defeat visiting Olentangy Liberty 31-21 on Oct. 4, scoring 28 unanswered points after trailing 14-3 in the second quarter.

Quarterback Matt Mulholland had touchdown passes of 29 and 53 yards and a 34-yard touchdown run. He completed 17 of 27 passes for 253 yards, and through six games was 119-for-201 for 1,412 yards with nine touchdowns and eight interceptions.

Against Liberty, Logan Roston had five receptions for 103 yards and Jimmy Applegate had five catches for 101 yards. For the season, Roston had 23 receptions for 453 yards and three touchdowns and Applegate had 24 catches for 360 yards and a touchdown.

Running back Aron Mowery, who had a 53-yard scoring run against Liberty, led the team in rushing through six games with 504 yards and seven touchdowns on 104 carries.

"It was a good win," Cotter said. "They are confident in what they do, so they really believe as long as they play good football they can win games. Hopefully that will come in handy as the season continues on."

Golfers compete in district tourneys

MacKenzie Edgar of the girls golf team shot an 85 in the Division I district tournament Oct. 8 at The Links at Groveport.

The top two individuals not on qualifying teams -- Watterson's Erin Harper (72) and Gahanna's Emily Hughes (78) -- advanced to state.

"I'm not happy at all," Edgar said. "The course played a lot tougher and I wasn't hitting very well. I wasn't consistent. I'm happy that I made it (to district), but I'm a little disappointed with how I ended up."

For the boys team, Morgan Tarrant and Jevon Knox competed as individuals in the district tournament Oct. 8 at Apple Valley.

"It was a beautiful day for golf ... but it just wasn't in the cards for our individuals to go to state this year," coach Anthony Given said.

Girls volleyball team to face Darby

The girls volleyball team opens the Division I district tournament at home against 22nd-seeded Hilliard Darby on Monday, Oct. 14.

The Monarchs are seeded 19th.

"We are very happy with our draw and are equally happy to be hosting the first round due to our higher seed," coach Jennifer Burton said. "We played Darby in the very first match of the season, so it should be an interesting match-up. We beat them the first time around and are expecting to do the same this time, but that will require us to go out at our speed, our level and to play as a team, and the girls are definitely willing to do that."

The Monarchs defeated Darby 25-19, 25-20 in the Marysville Spike Off Invitational on Aug. 17.

The winner plays at 14th-seeded Westerville North in the second round Wednesday, Oct. 16.

The Monarchs also finished first (16 points) in the first OCC sixth-place tournament Sept. 28 ahead of Delaware (7), host Newark (7) and Canal Winchester (5).

"I really enjoyed working with these young ladies and watching their improvement," said Merriman, who completed his first season as coach after serving as an assistant for 13 seasons. "They work hard and are fun to be around."

In doubles, Hunt and Hughes finished 15-4 and Willoughby and Shirk were 12-7.

In singles, Martin was 13-6, Yoakam was 12-7 and Marsh was 10-9.

Willoughby and Anna Sara were the only seniors in the program.

"The improvement was awesome because every single year we won more matches than the previous year," Willoughby said. "We were getting better the whole time I was there and that was really awesome to be there while we were doing that."